The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-02
BURIED ALIVE.
The Wonderful Case Of James Harvey, Murderer
and Convict for Life.


New York Sun.
al had been medical student at R.
College for about two years." said q
gray-haired doctor who was one OF
the party around the cabin stove,
"when ImeJ with a singular adventure.
1t was forty years ago, and only a few
lines concerning it was ever published.
The State prison was located in the
same city, and although there was no
law to that effect, as is the case now,
all bodies ofdead convicts not claimed
by friends were turned over to our
college for subjects. 1t sometimes
happened, however, that we did not
want them, as we drew from other
localities, and the classes were much
fewer In number than now. At the
time I speak OF we had three or four
subjects, and would not want any more
for weeks.
zone day-it was in june received
a note requesting me TO call on a con-
Wet at the prison named James Har.
ney. He was a man only 20 years OF
age, and had escaped the gallows by
scratch to be sentenced to solitary
confinement for life. Judges still sem
tence men to solitary confinement,
but it is we'll known that the sentence
is not carried out. After q brief peri.
cd in dark cell the convict is set
to work with the other prisoners and
treated just the same. At that time,
however, solitary confinement was
dungeon darker than midnight, with
leave to walk in corridor lighted by
lamps halt.an hour every third day.
Harvey was d stout, robust fellow,
with O constitution like iron, and had
been in prison over two years when
he sent for me. Some inhuen-
tial friends of his had interceded
with the Governor, and Harvey him
self had saved keeper from being
killed by an insane convict, and In
consequence the terms OF his sentence
had been modified and mitigated. He
was permitted to have the run OF a
corridor, an ordinary cell was allotted
to him, and a part OF the time he carried
the meals to the men still in the dun
geons. There was no possible chance
for him to escape, and, as he had APP
parently resigned himself to his fate,
no one suspected him OF such an in
tention. He had got o note to me on
the excuse that he had some impor- |
tant matters to reveal regarding n !
robbery perpetrated on my father,
then dead. went to the prison sup
posing that was the convict's sole OBJ |
ject. | was permitted to talk with
him with an iron grating between us
and keeper sitting a few feet away
to see that | did not pass in any ar
ticle.
"Harney's boldness filled me with
astonishment. He began by stating
that he had heard | was an enthusiast
tic student of anatomy, and thatI had
written two or three articles for medi-
cal magazine on the subject ofsuspend-
cd animation and frances. This was a
fact; but as they had been written and
published after Harney's imprison-
meat, and as he was supposed to be
dead to the world, | could not under
stand how he had become acquainted
with the fact. He put his proposition
entirely on the ground OF medical sci.
ence, and it was no more nor less than
that he should die and his body
should be turned over to our college.
He stipulated that his body should
not go into the vat where the subjects
are kept for twenty-four hours after
being received, and that should per-
sonally watch over it for that length
Of time. 1t was only after a second
visit that was enabled to fully COM
prehend his plans. He had discovered
that he could die at will and return to
life at any hour not over a day and a
night distant. He said that he had
tried it successfully up to ten hours
on several occasions, and felt sure ,
that he could make the time twice or |
three times as long. A fellow prisoner ,
who observed him while in this state 1
had asserted that it was a perfect
OF death, the heart ceasing
Its pulsations, the limbs growing cold
and rigid, and the pulse being too faint
10 be felt. He appealed to my en- J
Ihusiasm in medical science to make
bis escape from a life sentence. and ,
slough was at first firmly opposed
10 the idea, he brought forward 90 c